Cleaning the Inner Linings

Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati, MB, BS (Syd.)

The thought of washing the internal linings of the body with warm salty
water, wiping them with cloth, inducing vomiting, or placing catheters
in the nose, stomach, urethra, and so on, terrifies many new yogic practitioners
and even frightens a few of the more timid away. Indeed these seemingly
strange practices were held secret for many centuries and were handed
on to aspirants and disciples when the master considered the time correct.
They were revered by yogis as precious teachings, capable of removing
disease, endowing the body with strength and vitality, making one shine
inside out.

General effects

The hatha yoga shatkarmas were an essential preparatory step on the path
of awakening. At the most gross level, practices such as neti, dhauti
and basti wash accumulated secretions from the inner cavities much as
an enema does. The difference between a simple enema and a yogic kriya
lies at the more subtle levels:

1. The yogi must manipulate the body in order to perform the practices.
This forces him to learn how to control the inner organs and thereby
brings the more subtle and automatic components of the nervous system
under conscious control. Gaining control of inner activity prevents
the organs from going haywire.

2. Learning to manipulate organs both mechanically, from outside, and
neurologically, from inside, intensifies the cleaning action and affects
the microstructure, the chemicals, enzymes and energy pathways at a
molecular level.

3. Internal stimulation of the various cavities- stomach, intestines,
nostrils- brings previously unconscious body areas into the field of
conscious awareness. This is called expansion of awareness. The process
is intensified when shatkarmas are practised in combination with asana,
pranayama and meditative practice. The use of trataka, the shatkarma
which does not involve gross body cleansing, purifies the ability to
concentrate and focus on our body cavities.

The overall effect of the shatkarma is far greater than simply washing
the body because, when it is performed under yogic conditions, in an ashram
or an atmosphere of sadhana, with the awareness directed towards higher
goals, it purifies the physical, pranic and mental bodies. When the channels
for the flow of prana (pingala) and awareness (ida) are opened and clean,
the channel for awakening the spiritual faculties (sushumna) functions.

Shankhaprakshalana

Shankhaprakshalana is one of the most powerful of shatkarmas. Unlike
neti, kunjal, trataka and nauli, which can be continued daily until the
desired effect is attained, shankhaprakshalana can only be performed regularly
in its minor, or laghoo, form. In its full form, Once or twice a year
around the change of season is enough.

The continual movement of water through the stomach and intestines empties
the abdomen of all faecal contents and strips off the mucus lining, which
is usually encrusted with faeces. This unblocks the channels of flow,
for example, the sphincter of odi, where the liver joins the duodenum,
or the channels for the secretion of acids, enzymes and hormones, or the
channels for mucus, which prevents the body from digesting itself in its
own acid secretions (the cause of peptic ulcers).

Cleansing the thirty odd feet of internal digestive tubing allows the
absorption, assimilation and excretion processes to work optimally. This
is what yogis mean when they state that the nadis have to be cleansed
and the obstructions removed. In our constipated society this effect is
especially important.

The effects of shankhaprakshalana are various, and we find that in a
clinical setting it is useful for such diverse conditions as diabetes,
boils, acne, worms, indigestion, chronic dysentery, constipation, epilepsy,
cancer, muscular dystrophy, and so forth. Its action on the bowel is much
more powerful than laxatives and purgatives which require more time to
take effect and have deleterious side effects, not to mention their habituating
and addictive properties. Shankhaprakshalana is less time consuming, gives
a much cleaner result and is harmless when performed under expert guidance.

The effect of cleanliness

If we examine only the ability of shankhaprakshalana to clean the digestive
tract and leave out the aspects of neurological control, pranic energies
and awareness, we find that no technique comes even close to it for removing
faecal matter.

To highlight this point we should examine the research of H.S. Shukla,
A.K. Singh and Y.P. Naithani (*1). They compared the normal methods of
preparing bowel for surgery, which include dietary restrictions, cathartics
(laxatives), large doses of various antibiotics and six enemas (in a control
group), with total gut irrigation (TGI group), a modified form of shankhaprakshalana.

TGI involves flushing the whole gut, from the mouth to the anus, with
0.9 percent saline water on the night before operation (conventional cleaning
requires 3 - 4 days preoperative preparation). After 40 minutes of running
the water via a nasogastric tube, the first bowel motion was achieved
and the water was continued until the effluent per rectum was clear. Only
10 percent of the TGI group found the process unpleasant. It should be
noted at this point that the asanas used in shankhaprakshalana actively
speed up the passive passage of water through the gut by 4 to 5 times
as they act to open the sphincters of the bowel and put the abdomen under
pressure. The first stool in shankhaprakshalana usually occurs after 5
to 10 minutes of commencing the practice. TGI was found to be superior
to the usual preoperative preparation as the bowel was completely empty
and collapsed, the ideal situation for surgery. The absence of faeces
in the TGI group led to less infection, less wound breakdown and less
time required in hospital than for the control group. The TGI group reported
no deaths postoperatively while one person died in the control group due
to infection. The surgeons themselves were, on the whole, more satisfied
with TGI.

Cleanliness by itself allows the body to function better and is a healthier
state. 'Cleanliness is next to godliness.' When we add the effects of
asanas and yogic awareness we have a technique which can revolutionise
medical therapy and rejuvenate the body, preparing us for a long and healthy
lifetime of yogic sadhana.